Mel Duncan's Testimony Before the US House Progressive Caucus concerning the "Authorization of the Use of Peace Force" instead of Authorization of the Use of Military Force.
Testimony by Mel Duncan
Founding Director, Nonviolent Peaceforce
House Progressive Caucus
March 17, 2015
MDuncan@nonviolentpeaceforce.org
I thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts and experiences with you as you consider whether or not our nation will take steps to further entrench us in a state of permanent war.
No matter what we do or not do, it is important to remember that we are talking...
[ more ]

The major obstacle to progressive environmental policy is not the GOP-controlled Congress, nor is it the Koch brothers' political contributions. Rather, is it the U.S. military. Let me explain.
We in the United States take war for granted. It is, simply, what nations do. And superpowers do war very well. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the 2013 defense budget of the United States was $600.4 billion, more than the next nine top-spending nations combined. (China held second place at $112.2 billion.)
The U.S. Department of Defense is the single largest consumer...
[ more ]

The European Union has notified Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) of a grant (2 million Euros...approx. 2.3 million $) to develop a civilian protection project in Syria. We have been working on the project for over two years.
NP will be partnering with the Syrian organization Madani and contracting with Cure Violence to train and support locally tailored civilian protection and violence interruption programmes in 45 locations throughout the country.
NP will offer intensive training and training of trainers to Syrian civil society organizations and leaders across the entire political spectrum. ...
[ more ]

Dear Friends,
Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Kathy Kelly will turn herself in to the federal prison camp in Lexington, KY on Friday, January 23. She will begin serving a three-month sentence for her June 1, 2014 protest of drone killings at Whiteman Air Force Base, in Missouri.
Kelly asserts that drone warfare jeopardizes the security of ordinary people and that the U.S. Constitution protects her right to assemble peaceably for redress of grievance. She was arrested when she went with Georgia Walker and other activists to the gates of Whiteman Air Force Base to deliver...
[ more ]

We are NOT Charlie Hebdo!
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Francois Hollande and other heads of state at Paris march
Neither do we condone the bombings and murder of journalists at their headquarters, however much we are repulsed by their racist, chauvinist and hateful Islamophobic caricatures of oppressed people. Neither do we condone the subsequent murders at the Paris Kosher supermarket.
Yes, we are for free speech, freedom of expression and democratic rights for all, including the Muslim and antiwar activists who were banned by the French government from street protests in solidarity...
[ more ]